From the Publisher:
For Mary Russell and her husband, Sherlock Holmes, returning to the Sussex coast after seven months abroad is a delicious anticipation. But the longed for sweetness of their homecoming is quickly tempered by a bitter memory from her husband's past. Mary had met Damian Adler only once before, but the talented and troubled young man is enlisting her help again, this time in a desperate search for his missing wife and child. From suicides among the Standing Stones to a bizarre religious cult, from the heart of Bohemian London to dark secrets on the streets of Shanghai, Russell will find herself on the trail of a killer more dangerous than any she's ever faced - a killer Sherlock Holmes himself may be protecting for reasons near and dear to his heart.

From the Publisher:
For Mary Russell and her husband, Sherlock Holmes, returning to the Sussex coast after seven months abroad was especially sweet. There was even a mystery to solve -- the unexplained disappearance of an entire colony of bees from one of Holmes's beloved hives.
But the anticipated sweetness of their homecoming is quickly tempered by a galling memory from the past. Mary had met Damian Adler only once before, when the surrealist painter had been charged with -- and exonerated from -- murder. Now the troubled young man is enlisting the Holmeses' help again, this time in a desperate search for his missing wife and child.

Mary has often observed that there are many kinds of madness, and before this case yields its shattering solution she'll come into dangerous contact with a fair number of them. From suicides at Stonehenge to the dark secrets of a young woman's past on the streets of Shanghai, Mary will find herself on the trail of a killer more dangerous than any she's ever faced -- a killer Sherlock Holmes himself may be protecting for reasons near and dear to his heart.

From the Publisher:
"Capitaine Adler, it is not often that a man is given the opportunity to say this, but may I present your father? M. Holmes, your son, Captain Damian Adler."
For Mary Russell and her husband, Sherlock Holmes, returning to the Sussex coast after seven months abroad was a delicious anticipation. There was even a mystery to solve -- the unexplained disappearance of an entire colony of bees from one of Holmes's beloved hives. But the anticipated sweetness of their homecoming is quickly tempered by a bitter memory from her husband's past.

Mary had met Damian Adler only once before, when the promising surrealist painter had been charged with -- and exonerated from -- murder. Now the talented and troubled young man is enlisting their help again, this time in a desperate search for his missing wife and child.

From suicides among the Standing Stones to a bizarre religious cult, from the demi-monde of the Café Royal at the heart of Bohemian London to the dark secrets of a young woman's past on the streets of Shanghai, Russell will find herself on the trail of a killer more dangerous than any she's ever faced -- a killer Sherlock Holmes himself may be protecting for reasons near and dear to his heart.

From the Publisher:
In a case that will push their relationship to the breaking point, Mary Russell must help reverse the greatest failure of her legendary husband's storied past -- a painful and personal defeat that still has the power to sting... this time fatally.

For Mary Russell and her husband, Sherlock Holmes, returning to the Sussex coast after seven months abroad was especially sweet. There was even a mystery to solve -- the unexplained disappearance of an entire colony of bees from one of Holmes's beloved hives.

But the anticipated sweetness of their homecoming is quickly tempered by a galling memory from her husband's past. Mary had met Damian Adler only once before, when the promising surrealist painter had been charged with -- and exonerated from -- murder. Now the talented and troubled young man was enlisting their help again, this time in a desperate search for his missing wife and child.

When it comes to communal behavior, Russell has often observed that there are many kinds of madness. And before this case yields its shattering solution, she'll come into dangerous contact with a fair number of them. From suicides at Stonehenge to a bizarre religious cult, from the demimonde of the Café Royal at the heart of Bohemian London to the dark secrets of a young woman's past on the streets of Shanghai, Russell will find herself on the trail of a killer more dangerous than any she's ever faced -- a killer Sherlock Holmes himself may be protecting for reasons near and dear to his heart.